Spoon is the Pete Rose of Indie Rock: consistently strong performers year after year, album after album, show after show. The Austin-based quartet founded by singer/guitarist Britt Daniel has been forcing its will on discerning listeners for more than 15 years now, a slow build that culminated in its last two albums — 2007's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and this year's Transference — debuting in the Top 10 on the Billboard charts.
While Daniel's minimalist fetish was taken to its apex on the “glassy” Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, the “uglier” Transference (more on that later) remains yet another testament to the band's longstanding (some say stubborn) dedication to simple, stripped-down songcraft. Take “The Mystery Zone,” an addictive six-minute groove that features all of the band's signature elements: taut, spiky guitar riffs; a driving, elemental rhythm section anchored by longtime drummer Jim Eno; and a cryptic Daniel lyric that manages to be both personal and universal: “Make us a house/Some far away town/Where nobody will know us well/Where your dad's not around.”
CityBeat recently stole a few minutes with bassist Rob Pope, a relative Spoon newcomer (he joined in 2006 after his previous band, The Get Up Kids, imploded) who thinks Arcade Fire are sweethearts and who used to do his laundry at Sudsy Malone's.
Spoon plays the Madison Theater Tuesday with Pomegranates. Go here to read Jason Gargano's interview with Rob Pope.
